Going ‘Far Beyond the Stars’ with the Henry Girls

Three Malin sisters are set to travel the length and breadth of Europe with their new album, but not before they play a special launch gig in Letterkenny.

The Henry Girls, Lorna, Karen and Joleen McLaughlin, released their new album Far Beyond the Stars last Friday, and will take to the stage in An Grianan Theatre tonight.

Speaking to the ‘Journal’, Lorna McLaughlin explained the inspiration behind the girls third studio album.

“We recorded the album in Malin in our aunts’ house. It’s a 13 track album and it was recorded in two stages - we recorded five songs in a week at the beginning of 2016 and then we recorded the remaining eight songs, also in a week, in August.

“The songs on this album have a range of themes - grief, loss, mental illness, hope, romance, motherhood, relationships and a song dedicated to refugees.

“The album title, Far Beyond the Stars, comes from one of the album songs with the same name; it’s a song about losing someone and the comforting idea that we will meet again in the afterlife,” she said.

The new album is produced by long time collaborator Calum Malcolm, who has worked with the girls since 2011.

“We have established a great working relationship with him, having worked on three albums and two EPs with him since 2011. He is very straight with us, which is good. He has an incredible ear and he’s so musical, plus he is a very funny man too! We love working with him.

“The musicians on the album are the musicians we have been working with on our previous albums, Denise Boyle, Ted Ponsonby, Liam Bradley, Nicky Scott, and we also have a musician called Dave Redmond on double bass. They are a great bunch and we all go way back,” said Lorna.

The Henry Girls will tour Far Beyond the Stars across the country from March until May, before touring Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and even Canada.

Fans of the trio are in for a treat at tonight’s official launch.

“We will sing all 13 songs from the new album plus a few oldies too! “We will be joined by some musicians who played on the album plus we have a wonderful support act, Damien McGeehan.

“We launched our last two albums in An Grianan - December Moon in 2012 and Louder Than Words in 2014 - so we are very happy to be keeping with the tradition, it’s a really wonderful theatre and there’s such a great bunch of people there,” added Lorna.